ISRO's Aditya-L1 spacecraft all set to be injected into final orbit shortly; here's how it will be placed

The final manoeuvre for the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be performed by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) shortly. Aditya-L1 spacecraft is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the sun and it will be pushed to its new parking spot — Lagrange Point 1 — in space from where it will have an clear view of the Sun.  

As per ISRO officials, the spacecraft will be positioned in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth system's Lagrange Point 1 (L1), about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The L1 point is about one per cent of the total distance between the Earth and the Sun.

A satellite in a halo orbit around L1 can continuously observe the Sun without any eclipses, offering real-time observation of solar activities and their impact on space weather.

This manoeuvre (at around 4 pm on Saturday) will bind the Aditya-L1 to a halo orbit around L1, an ISRO official told news agency PTI on Friday. If this manoeuvre is not performed, the Aditya-L1 might continue towards the Sun, the official added.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) launched Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre's second launch pad, Sriharikota, on September 2, last year. Following a 63 minutes and 20 seconds flight, it was successfully placed into an elliptical orbit of 235x19500 km around Earth.

The spacecraft has successfully performed a series of manoeuvres and headed towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), having escaped the Earth's sphere of influence. It is equipped with seven payloads designed to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are:

- Study of the Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.

- Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares.

- Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment, providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.

- Physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism.

- Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.

- Development, dynamics and origin of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

- Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.

- Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.

- Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).

Also Watch: ISRO's Aditya-L1 mission could go wrong tomorrow, if this manoeuvre fails! Know all about the Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion